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Armani suit meets 'Armani suite' at Dubai hotel

April 27, 2010 | 10:00
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When fashion designer Giorgio Armani picked up a pair of scissors in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, it wasn't to cut a pattern for a suit jacket -- it was to cut the ribbon at a ceremony marking the opening of the world's first luxury hotel to bear his brand name -- the Armani Hotel Dubai.

The hotel consists of 160 rooms and suites on the fifth through eighth floors and the 38th and 39th floor of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, with levels nine to 16 home to 144 additional one- and two-bedroom private luxury apartments (dubbed "Armani residences"), all of which were designed by Armani himself and appointed in furnishings from his Armani/Casa collection.

Judging just from the above photos of the lobby, the place -- five years in the making -- has got to be a full-on temple to the maestro's minimalist luxury aesthetic, with the media materials waxing on about the "eramosa stone" floors (as near as we can determine, that term refers to a type of veined, brown limestone from Canada), zebra wood paneling, fabric-covered walls and an in-hotel Armani/SPA.

Of course there's abundant "shoportunity" at hand: In addition to eight restaurants, we're told there's a haute couture boutique showcasing the Armani Prive collection and fashion accessories (Armani/Galleria), a confectionary serving up enough sweet treats to keep you from fitting into any of that Armani Prive (Armani/Dolci) and a flower shop where you can grab a Giorgio Armani-designed vase to go with that bouquet of flowers designed by Mother Nature (Armani/Fiori).